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'Massacre' site
Bodies line hospital floor
Life in hiding
Where is Gaddafi?

Leaders of rebel forces that deposed Col Muammar Gaddafi in Libya have said they do not intend to allow the extradition of the Lockerbie bomber.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted in connection with the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland in 1988.

Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison two years ago on health grounds.

There have been calls for Megrahi to be returned to the UK, or to be tried in the United States.

Megrahi is technically on licence, but his whereabouts have been unknown.

US broadcaster CNN reported on Sunday that it had found Megrahi in a coma at his Tripoli villa, being cared for by family members.

A neighbour in Tripoli had earlier said Megrahi was whisked away by security guards last week as Gaddafi's forces crumbled.
'Already judged'

Mohammed al-Alagi, justice minister for the new leadership in Tripoli, said: "We will not hand over any Libyan citizen to the West.

"And from points A, B and C of justice, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has already been judged once, and will not be judged again.

"We will not hand over any Libyan nationals, it's Gaddafi who hands over Libyan nationals."

Hopes had also been raised in the case of the killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher, after a suspect was recently identified.

PC Fletcher was shot while policing a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

But the Sunday Times reported that senior Libyan officials would not hand anyone over.
Leader 'pledge'

Hassan al-Sagheer, a member of Libya's National Transitional Council, was quoted by the paper as saying: "Libya has never extradited or handed over its citizens to a foreign country. We shall continue with this principle."

It came as William Hague said the rebels had pledged to "co-operate fully" with the British authorities.

Mr Hague told the BBC: "This is an ongoing police investigation so it's quite difficult for me to comment on.

"But I would say that when... [Mustafa Abdul] Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council, was with us in London in May, he committed himself and the council to co-operate fully with the British government on these matters."

He added: "I wouldn't take what has been written in the press today as the last word on the matter."

The National Transitional Council is now recognised by Britain as the sole governmental authority for Libya.

To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

Hmm, I think there is some political wrangling to be done if they really want him. Keep in mind all of Libya's assests that were frozen since the beginning of this conflict and could very well "aid" the opposition.

Scotland isn't going to ask for his extradition (they just said so) so I suspect this is a bit of a non-story.

Scotland would like this to go away or leave it to the Americans to extradite him. I'm not sure if he is receiving medical care now the Country is in uproar and maybe a higher being will take any choice out of human hands

Hmm, I think there is some political wrangling to be done if they really want him. Keep in mind all of Libya's assests that were frozen since the beginning of this conflict and could very well "aid" the opposition.

The bastard is in coma, and hope he feels the pain.

Scotland wont ask for extradition? I thought it's UK rule there.

Speaking of Libya assets, there are $2.5bn missing.

No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

zv knod ,vLONDON (AP) — Scotland has asked Libya's new authorities to help track down those responsible for the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing, but the country's transitional justice minister told reporters Monday "the case is closed."

In Tripoli, Mohammed al-Alagi noted that the only person charged with the bombing — former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi — was freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because of illness.

There is no reason to keep dragging the case into court, al-Alagi said.

Britain's Foreign Office, however, stressed late Monday that Libyan authorities have assured Prime Minister David Cameron that they would cooperate with the United Kingdom in the investigation.

"Having spoken with the National Transitional Council this evening, we understand that this remains the case," the Foreign Office said in a statement in response to al-Alagi's remarks.

The Scottish prosecutors' office said Monday it had written to the National Transitional Council asking for written evidence and witnesses that could aid the inquiry into the bombing of the New York-bound Pan Am plane over the Scottish town killed 270 people, most of them American.

The investigation "remains an open inquiry," it said.

Scottish authorities have said that al-Megrahi's trial had found that he "acted in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services in an act of state-sponsored terrorism and did not act alone."

He was sentenced to life in jail in 2001, but released after doctors said he was dying of prostate cancer and estimated he had three months to live.

He remains alive, though reportedly in poor health, in Tripoli. His release infuriated the families of many Lockerbie victims.

U.S. senators in New York have asked Libya's transitional government to hold al-Megrahi fully accountable for the Pan Am bombing by sending him back to prison.

The bombing remains Britain's worst terrorist attack.

To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

al-Megrahi will die in Libya. There is no point in returning him to prison. I suspect the request to "track down those responsible for the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing" involves others rather than al-Megrahi. I fear these others may well have fled across other borders by now and capturing them may take years rather than weeks or months.

Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi speaks at his home in Tripoli
Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi speaks during an interview with Reuters TV at his home in Tripoli. Photograph: Reuters TV/Reuters

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, has said his role in the attack had been exaggerated and the truth about what happened would emerge soon.

Megrahi, released from a Scottish prison two years ago because he has terminal cancer, was speaking at his home in Tripoli. Frail, his breathing laboured, he said he had months, at most, to live.

"The facts [about Lockerbie] will become clear one day and hopefully in the near future. In a few months from now, you will see new facts that will be announced," he said. "The west exaggerated my name. Please leave me alone. I only have a few more days, weeks or months."

Megrahi was found guilty of bombing Pan Am flight 103 while it was en route from London to New York on 21 December 1988. All 259 people aboard the plane were killed and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie died from falling wreckage.

Megrahi, an intelligence agent during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, denied any role in human rights abuses. "All my work was administrative. I never harmed Libyans," he said. "I didn't harm anyone. I've never harmed anyone in my life."

He called his trial in a Dutch court under Scottish jurisdiction a farce. "Camp Zeist court is the smallest place on earth that contains the largest number of liars. I suffered from the liars at Camp Zeist court more than you can imagine," he said.

Megrahi lay propped at a slight angle in a hospital-style bed. An oxygen tank stood nearby, but he did not use a mask during the interview. Members of his family were in the room with him. Unshaven, he wore a checked shirt and had a white headdress wrapped loosely around his head.

Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) has said it will work with the Scottish government over the possible involvement of others in the bombing, an attack the country's new rulers are eager to distance themselves from.

The NTC had previously called the case closed and said any investigation would not involve Megrahi, who had been serving a life sentence in Scotland until his release. NTC head Mustafa Abdel Jalil has previously claimed to have evidence of Gaddafi's involvement in the bombing.

A second defendant, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was cleared of murder charges in the proceedings.

In the interview, Megrahi said that Jim Swire, the father of one of the victims of the bombing who has disputed the court's findings, maintained contact with him.

"The day before yesterday, Dr Swire sent me an email to tell me that there is a new medicine. He is trying to help me. He told me how to get this medicine."

Megrahi said he had little knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi's overthrow and that the armed groups which toppled Gaddafi had invaded his home and mistreated him.

"I don't know anything about February 17th … that's not a question for a sick person," he said, using the term by which many Libyans describe the rebellion.

"My house has been violated. They smashed the main door and stole my cars."

He said he was being denied medical treatment stipulated in the deal that saw him returned from Scotland to Libya. "I have a shortage of all my medicines. My doctor tells me to look for medicine like anyone else despite the agreement between us and Britain," he said. "I have four pills left [of one of the medications].

"I want to die in my house, among my family. I hope to God that I will see my country united, with no fighting or war. I hope the bloodshed will stop in Libya. I wish all the best for my country."

Lockerbie resident Sarah Lawson, 87, who lives in Sherwood Crescent where debris from the plane demolished houses and killed 11 residents, questioned whether the truth about the bombing would ever emerge. "I don't think he did it … somebody else did it. Maybe he had a job to do and he had to do it otherwise it would've cost him his life," she said.

Megrahi's release was conditional on making himself available to talk by phone or video link with criminal justice officials in East Renfrewshire, where his family lived while he was imprisoned.

"Our criminal justice service monitor Mr Megrahi based on the licence that was issued at the time of his release," a spokesman for East Renfrewshire council said. "We continue to monitor him regularly and he has not breached any of the conditions imposed on him as part of that licence."

The Foreign Office and Scottish government had no immediate comment.

To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway